Coincidental-ly
It is not always possible to know what event will become a miracle in our own life.
It is as if the potential of a miracle in all things
becomes a barrier to seeing a miracle in any one thing.
-Katie Mahon and Joan Luise Hill in The Miracle Collectors
The story Katie shared of the waitress rescuing the abused child was a poignant example of Being the Miracle for someone else - but it is also a story of coincidence that speaks to my soul of possibility. I probably resonate so strongly with matters of coincidence because of the fortunate series of events that conspired to save my son's life twenty years ago when he was found to have a congenital heart anomaly that was never before seen in a person who was still alive. Like the waitress', his story too continues to ripple out into the world, as he is now an emergency medicine physician on the front lines of COVID and being the miracle for others who are ill or injured.
Coincidences though, don't occur only in life or death situations that cause us to stop and take notice, they can also be much simpler and serve to remind us of our connection with the greater universe that lurks outside our door. When my friend Chris shared her remarkable story of coincidence, I knew it had to make its way into our new book. Her story and the others we tell in The Miracle Collectors illustrate the important role coincidence can have in each of our lives.
On the first wedding anniversary after Chris' beloved husband's death, she was alone in the home where they had raised their four children, when in the early morning, still in her pajamas and sipping a cup of coffee, the doorbell rang. Knowing that her house was at the end of a sleepy cul-de-sac, her first thought was that someone was in trouble. She was shocked when she opened her front door and saw the huge bouquet of yellow roses being delivered as they had each anniversary for the previous forty-seven years.
Clutching the precious bouquet to her heart, she returned to her chair, delighted that her children had remembered. After a while, she pulled out the card inserted amid the flowers, anticipating their names, and was surprised to discover she didn’t recognize either the message or the signature. When she looked at the envelope, she saw the card was not even addressed to her. Same zip code, but the address was a street on the opposite side of town. She called the floral shop only to find it hadn't yet opened for the day and left a message. When the florist called back, he couldn’t understand the mix-up and sent someone to pick up the wayward roses. Regardless of the florist’s confusion, Chris told me she knew exactly where the flowers had come from.
Some say that coincidence is God's way of working a miracle anonymously, and in this case it served to heal a heart full of grief. (Joan)